Perhaps History has cursed Telangana. Its two flourishing empires—of Kakatiyas and Kutub Shahis—were destroyed by Tughlaq and Aurangazeb respectively. It would have been better if the British Empire had made Telangana its province. Good or bad, Mecaulay’s heirs would have thrived here too. Telangana people would have learnt a bit of strategy, a bit of administration and a bit of politicking. Unfortunately, it is their proclivity to struggle that was always dominant here. It is in this place, swords were drawn for the first war of Indian independence. Ramji Gond was hanged here. While mobilizing Adivasis, Komaram Bhim lost his life here. When the entire country was scoring victories through ‘refomative’ nationalism, even satyagraha was banned here. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, prohibited Satyagraha only in Hyderabad. When entire villages armed themselves to fight against the feudal order, the world eulogized Telangana saying “you are second to none in shedding blood.” The sacrifice of five thousand martyrs and the struggle of ten thousand villages—got lost in time. Here, every battle ends with either a sacrifice or a betrayal. The snake in ‘Snakes and Ladder’ game keeps biting. But the Vikramarka hauls Bhetala onto his shoulder yet again. You experience a 1969 and a 1978. For the next three decades, it is the dead bodies of Telangana that would be hung from the threshold of the fort. Still these people don’t learn or won’t accept defeat. Even as experience tells them that nothing can be achieved, they don’t give up. To get something, one keeps raising one’s voice. To live here, one has to die.found that at this google group. one of the members seems to have translated it from telugu. the author is k.srinivas, the editor of andhra jyothy.
For Telangana, its ‘present’ is another curse. One who grows into a leader turns out to be a landlord. Youth become Naxalites. And there is so much concern (from others) for the people of leaderless Telangana!
What a wonderful people! But what a disgraceful leadership! Stubborn or strong or naïve or foolish they may be, and yet what a great people! Telangana took pride—when Telugus and the rest of the world lauded them for its tremendous courage and struggle. When such a people are begging the leaders to assume their role of guiding people, pleading them to occupy the throne of Telangana government, isn’t it a pity that the leaders, in self-deception, choose to land at the gates of the high command and feel secure? What a great tragedy to openly admit that they are not qualified to become leaders, and that they are happy to remain in the second rung and get whatever the higher ups dole out to them?!
Siripuram Yadaiah is an orphan, just like Telangana. Telangana is without a leader. No leader to give a little assurance to its people. No one to at least pledge that he will not compromise, if not resign, from his position. There is no leader to dispel the thick clouds of despair fast engulfing the hearts of these orphans.
Perhaps Telangana requires a new leadership, not merely for a separate state, but for the future. It needs a leadership that doesn’t abandon its people midway, but shows them the path ahead. The disturbed and the orphaned people should lead themselves. They should be led by wisdom and rationality and not by illusions and wordiness. They should stop getting disheartened when betrayed by the leaders who lack integrity. They must not waste their valuable lives by dying.
the world can't take it if telanganis live in peace. srinivas spent a couple of days in jail recently, for hinting in a front page story that dalitbahujan activists of andhra pradesh can be bought. now he can barely control himself from urging the same dalitbahujans to shed some more blood, to follow ramji gond, komuram bheem, chakali ailamma, doddi komuraiah, kishta goud.. siripuram yadaiah. and thousands of others. so that telangana doesn't lose its reputation as a war cry among the well-fed upper caste revolutionaries of jnu?
suddenly learnt the other day, that a couple of 'leader-less orphans' who had climbed up a cellphone tower a few days ago (minor news on television) in the village my folks came from, were my second cousins. one of their grandparents had been beaten up very badly by the razakars around sixty years ago, because their uncles (barely in their teens then) were carrying supplies and messages to the communists. if someone like srinivas had been around, i don't think they'd have climbed down. i strongly suspect it was someone like srinivas who sent them up there, to join their grandfather, in the first place. look at what anant maringanti is talking about here.
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6 comments:
interesting!
the linked article reads like a lament of a poor helpless elderly woman worrying over orphaned children, bemoaning the past, cursing the present and already given up on their future.
the article is linked by a woman who heads a feminist organization and the sole commenter is a woman who heads another woman's organization. and the article writer is a male.
i am not able to make out if these women leaders are impressed or are being sarcastic with this pathos ridden appeal.
kufr,
Just curiuos to know who, do you think, are the greatest Dalit leaders (apart from the obvious B R Ambedkar) from the past as well as the present.Were (are) there any non-dalit leaders who made significant contributions towards dalit development?
Thanks,
anu,
doesn't it also seem like an appeal to very male 'honour' etc?
nagaraj,
isn't that a very big question? :)
we know much about the period from phule to ambedkar and later because they're it is better recorded.
if we go back in time-- everyone who stood against caste.. from the rationalist carvakas, buddha to basava to kabir to ravidas etc were all against caste. among the telugus (some think basava was a telugu brahmin probably because the divide between the languages wasn't so great then) to vemana to veera brahmam to tripuraneni, to some extent, were all against rigid brahminism.
i think both dalits and non-dalits who work against caste contribute significantly to the development of 'non-dalits'.
"doesn't it also seem like an appeal to very male 'honour' etc?"
Oh yes, at HCU many years ago, 'male honor' was inducted to mob Prof Jodka, one guy went around recruiting young men in hostels (all pursuing Ph.d's, Mphils and Masters) saying that the Prof, at a meeting addressing a on-campus rape incident, in his choice of words had insulted their mothers -and all these men actually responded to his call and came after the Prof. The girl was still in the hospital. Here these highly educated men were out to defend their mother's honor! The girls on campus took a very dim view of them at that time. One of the reasons I wonder about these women’s interest in the above article.
Anant’s article is a crucial one especially in the absence of any serious engagement of the civil society with the phenomenon of suicides in big numbers, but its just a beginning, people tend to see this as someone else’s problem until it appears within their immediate circle.
Yeah, that turned out into a very big question indeed :). I actually meant 'recent past', limited to last one century. But yeah, I realized I miscommunicated it :). But thanks for the answer never the less.
BTW, pls note that I changed my profile name from my actual name (Nagaraj) to my blog name.
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